TomMN's Profile

I thought I'd share my results in the hope that it might help others. Very apt that this thread is called "disasters and success" because I thought I was heading for both ends of the scale.As a recent disciple of prime-rib guru Fourunder, my plan was to follow his teachings religiously.My 20 lb standing rib roast came out of the refrigerator and on to the counter when I went to bed late on the 23rd. Based on my conversation with the guru here, I was planning on an 8 hour total preparation time.I had cut the bones off of the roast, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then tied them back on. Then seasoned the roast with only Kosher salt and cracked black pepper (that I had fun cracking manually - to some degree, but not 100% success).The internal temperature probe read 53° when I popped the roast into the oven that had been pre-heated to 450°20 minutes later I turned the temperature down to 225° (Internal temp had risen 1 degree to 54°.This is when things took a turn toward ... more interesting.2 hours passed and my internal temp was reading 92°. This seemed much too high for me. I panicked. Just a little.I inserted a second temperature probe to see if I was getting a good reading. (I was) I also put an ambient temperature probe in the oven to make sure the oven was performing as desired. (It was).With two probes now inserted and one more in the oven, I turned the temperature down to 200° for the roast that was starting to look more like an CICU patient.After 3 hours and 26 minutes, both my probes read 123°. Even though this was HOURS before dinner, the words of our Guru rang in my head and out of the oven came the roast. I wrapped tightly in foil and then wrapped in a blanket and put it on the counter.In the 13 minutes it took me to wrap the roast, the temp. rose to 126-128° (Two probes).20 minutes of rest later the temp was at 129-132°1 hour of rest later the temp was at 131-134°1.5 hours later the temp was 131-134°THREE HOURS later, the temp was 130-132°Dinner was approaching and it was time for a 20-minute warm up at 250°.I took that roast out and tented it with foil while the oven warmed to 450°, then it was back in for 15 minutes.After it came out, due to issues beyond my control (involving potatoes, etc.) we tented for another half hour before carving.All-in-all, we had cooked for 3:26 and between resting/warming/searing we had rested for a total of 4:09.The results? Uniform pink color throughout the roast. A little bleeding, but tender, tender, tender delicious prime rib. I'll try to post the photographic evidence below.Fourunder, you're the master! I only hope your roasts today turn out as good as mine last night - but of course they will!My big extended family raved about the beef and thanked me, but they were really thanking you!I can't see myself using any other method for rib roasts ever again.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with me and everyone here - such an incredible gift to us all and an incredible resource for all us wanna- be cooks.I'm using a newer Wolf oven that has convection capabilities although I don't think I'll use convection as I'm not in a big hurry.I'm going to try to post a picture of each end. If the pictures work out: would you consider this a thicker or thinner roast?

Note: for some reason, I'm having trouble posting the pictures from this iPad. Working on it...

First of all, fourunder, thank you for all the great advice you have given here. It is greatly appreciated. I used your low and slow method on a boneless 6.5lb rib roast and the results were phenomenal.I would like to ask you a question, if I could: I bought a 20lb standing rib roast from Costco which I'll be cooking Christmas Eve. I plan on placing the room-temperature roast into a 225 oven. (Haven't decided if I will pull at 118 or at 122-125 as you mentioned above).Although I'll be using the temperature to determine when to pull the roast, how long do you think it will take to cook this beast? I've read different "rules of thumb" to estimate this, but many times these rules that I have read are for roasts cooked with different methods (high heat blast at first, etc.).Thanks for the help.

Thank you for your response. We've got open minds and a GPS so I guess we're set. Based on the information above, I'm leaning towards booking rooms in the Uptown area. We're also not to worried about meeting a specific price range. Thanks again.

Thanks for the info, it is very much appreciated.We'll have a car and don't mind driving a short distance if we have to, but for practical reasons, we would prefer not.As for what type of food we are looking for ... well ... its a sliding scale.Our first hope is to find something open. (Having no idea what the local customs are, we feared that places may be closed on Sundays or Sunday evenings)Finding open places, our next wish would be a good meat and potatoes place - steak, prime rib, BBQ, ect. This group is not too adventurous when it comes to eating.If the first two options were available, our next wish would be some place with a local flavor, hopefully locally owned, perhaps locally sourced. Maybe a revered local institution - that sort of place.As the person in charge of planning our Charlotte stay, if I can't find any of the above, finding really good cocktails, would also get me off the hook!

Three friends and I (40-something men) will be traveling to Charlotte later this summer and will spend Sunday night in the Charlotte area. None of us have ever been to Charlotte or are familiar with the area.We're looking for suggestions as to where to stay (what area) and what to do.We're not too picky, but would like to stay in an area where we could find an open restaurant and/or a place to get a beer.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated